Stargate Origins: Camilla Carter
by Stargatefanatic123
Summary: Looking over her past, Camilla Carter of the Tok'ra knew there were things she could feel ashamed about, sorry about, but there wasn't anything she would change if it took Kel'an away. The woman has regrets, but not many. Certainly not becoming a host. This is a look at Camilla Carter's life both before and during her time with SG1. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**I guess I couldn't stay away. Well, I'm still on a break from Tok'ra in Atlantis, but I've been meaning to update Camilla's back story. Personally, it's all well and good what I've written in Tok'ra in Atlantis with the SG-1 parts in it, but looking back, I can't help but think I was a bit naive about the world, too sure about how people would automatically do the right thing. ****So, I decided a few months ago to re-write all that, create a more believable SG-1 story for all of you. I know a couple of readers have remarked on it, so... here's the remedy.**

**This is not the split off from Tok'ra in Atlantis, nor will it be, but I certainly planning on linking in aspects from my other Stargate story. I hope everyone enjoys this slightly more realistic view of Camilla's life and I look forward to reading everyone's reviews. Like before, guest reviews have been allowed, so I ask that Guests please leave an identifying name (i.e.'Guest1' 'Guest2') so I know who's who and don't misaddress and answer the wrong person! It's small, but it helps me keep people straight. Like in my other Story TiA (Tok'ra in Atlantis), there will be a section at the bottom of every chapter - after this one of course - that will be solely for answering guest reviews or queries held by a large number of reviewers.**

**A warning to all reviewers: I don't mind constructive criticism - you hate parts, or all, and think that grammar/spelling/plot needs work, tell me where and how I can improve so I don't make the same mistake next time - but Flames are a completely different matter. If I receive a review that is only 'hate this' 'hate that' with no tips, I will warn you,** _once**,**_ **let you explain yourself - maybe it's just me in a bad mood mis-reading your review - before I report you. I have yet to deal with Flames since starting TiA, but I want myself understood before anything happens.****  
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**Now, as a disclaimer: I don't own anything Stargate related or belonging to MGM and whoever owns everything Stargate. I'm just using the idea, the premise, and the characters to write. I'll be nice and put things back, but they're not mine.**

**Now, on with the show!**

* * *

**1992, OUTSIDE OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA**

If there was one thing that the eight year old little girl knew about the state she had been born in, it was that it was pretty hot and certainly not helping as she stood swaying at the end of the dirt road she'd always looked down when she was younger.

Her blonde hair was matted and dirty and her skin had more dirt on it than a child of eight years usually had on them. But it was her eyes that surveyed everything that would have startled many to see. Despite the sky blue hue they held, they also held a wariness that many adults would have sworn they should only ever see, if at all, in a war veteran's gaze, not a young child.

Taking in a rasping breath, the little girl looked over her shoulder at the empty house she had just escaped from. She knew her parents wouldn't be back until after dark, cursing her, and she had taken the time available to her to leave, taking what precious little belonged to her in the small rucksack she had been given long ago. She knew her parent's had loved her once, long ago, but something had changed, leaving them bitter and twisted.

Shaking her head slowly, rasping in another breath, the little girl hugged her right arm to her chest and limped down the road, focusing on getting as far away from the building as she could, even if she knew it would kill her.

As she limped, dragging her leg behind her, the girl took in the sight of the two farm fields on either side of her. On the right stood a field of green grass and another field further down that held still growing corn while on the left stood several, large bales of yellow coloured hay amid a large field with more of it waiting to be cut. The fields were separated by two, long, wooden fences, seeming to part the fields before her.

Forcing another breath into her lungs, the girl focused her concentration on her breathing instead of her surroundings, resolutely continuing down the dirt road. She slowly got further and further away from the large house, focusing on breathing and placing her best foot forwards.

As focused as she was, the eight year old girl didn't hear anything untoward until she heard a massive explosion coming from the field of hay on her left. Seeing the smoke rising from the field, the girl quickly glanced at the house that was still too close for her liking before looking back at the field and coughing. She resolutely walked towards the field, ducking under the almost crude fence and towards the smoke that she had seen.

Limping and walking as slowly as she was, coughing intermittently, the girl quickly came to a large, odd-shaped clearing in the hay, many ears of hay now either destroyed or flat on the ground, charred. Moving through the clearing as slowly as she dared, the girl looked around, stepping over ragged and sharp pieces of metal and crystal shards that littered the majority of the clearing with the occasional piece of metal tubing sticking out of the ground.

Coughing and fanning her face with her left hand, the girl knew both the heat of the day and the smoke coming from the wreckage wasn't helping her breathing and she couldn't help but look around for people.

She froze a few moments later as she finally saw someone; a man lay on the ground, dressed in odd clothing as one leg jutted out at an odd angle that the girl knew meant his leg was broken, even as she saw that one arm remained while the other disappeared just past the shoulder, blood slowly oozing from his broken body.

Coughing, the girl limped closer, looking at the man; taking in the dark hair and the paling skin. As she moved, she winced, hearing something crack beneath her bare feet and she watched as the man's eyes slowly blinked and moved from looking up at the sky to her.

Despite the man's obvious pain, he smiled, coughing slightly and the girl couldn't help but return it as she limped closer.

"Peace…. child," the man coughed out as she forced herself to sit down, taking the weight of her body off of her leg.

"Is… there anything I can… do to help?" she asked the man softly.

He shook his head once, wincing. "Nothing can be done for me," he answered. "Nothing….. for me… but maybe for Kel'an…"

The girl frowned and leaned closer to the man. "Kel'…an?" she asked, forcing in a rasping breath through her weak throat.

The man's eyes focused on her, frowning slightly and the eight year old stiffened as he lifted his remaining hand out to her, resting it gently on her throat. His frown deepened for a moment before his gaze lost some of its focus but his hand remained where it was.

"Kel'an is a friend…" the man said after a moment, lowering his hand slowly. "He has aided me… I cannot allow him to die… not with me… not like this."

The girl tilted her head slightly before wincing, raising her left hand to her throat, then her mouth as she coughed, feeling her body shaking with the effort.

"Kel'an can heal you… take away your pain… breathe for you," the man continued, nodding in understanding as she struggled to even out her already raspy breathing, even as he coughed himself.

The man's entire body seemed to shake with a fit as he coughed and the girl edged closer, taking his remaining hand in her left one, offering him some comfort as he slowly regained control over his body.

"Please," the man rasped. "Please… take Kel', take him…"

The girl edged closer and over the man's head, frowning. She couldn't see his friend and she wasn't sure where he was.

"… _How_…?" she asked.

The man gently cupped the back of her head with his free hand and gently pulled her closer. "Like… this…" he said.

Opening her mouth to protest at his strength, memories of her father flashing in front of her eyes, the girl screamed and gagged as something flew out from the man and into _her_. Pulling back and out of the man's grasp, the girl's left hand flew to her throat, feeling the stinging pain at the back of her throat before it faded to a dull throb, then to nothing.

_**I am sorry, **_a voice spoke in her mind and the girl froze, her body tensing everywhere. _**I am sorry for what Al'ek and I have done, Camilla. If you do not wish for me to remain, let me heal your injuries and I shall leave you.**_

Camilla, the little girl, stayed frozen, panting hard, before she felt her eyes widen as she realised the ease with which she breathed. She breathed in like she hadn't since long before the incident, the one incident she refused to think about or remember.

_You're… You're Kel'an? _Camilla asked, thinking the words like the voice in her mind seemed to have done.

The voice chuckled in answer. _**I am, **_she answered. _**Until a few moments ago, I resided within Al'ek, the man you were speaking with.**_

Camilla's eyes flew to the man lying on the ground, his breath coming in short, sharp wheezes and she moved closer to him, moving his head into her lap as she stroked her left hand through what little hair he had.

_He asked me to take you, _the girl thought quietly as she soothed the man gently with her usable hand. _I won't disappoint him._

The voice, _Kel'an_, the girl reminded herself, seemed to chuckle again and the noise seemed to solidify itself within her mind. _**You are as honourable as Al'ek thought you might be, **_he commented. _**Might I have control, Camilla?**_

Camilla nodded slowly before she felt her body tensing and her head lowering without her control before she felt another entity controlling her body without her telling it to move.

"**Goodbye, my dear friend," **the entity spoke and somehow Camilla knew it was Kel'an speaking now, her voice changing her own to something deeper, more dangerous sounding. **"I will die before I let your murderer go free, Al'ek. Rest in peace knowing Camilla, my host, will care for me. Rest in peace knowing I will mourn you."**

The man seemed to smile through his pain as he reached his hand up to her and Camilla watched as her left hand moved to intercept it and press it to her cheek, holding it close. As much as she had wished to never know how a person looked when they died, she stood beside Kel'an as they kept the man company until his body grew slack and his hand fell limp from their weak grip.

Kel'an bowed her head and Camilla felt his grief, his mourning for the man as they reached down and closed his eyes. After what seemed an age, Camilla felt sensation returning to her limbs and moved them, feeling her left arm moving under her control.

_**Thank you for that, Camilla, **_Kel'an spoke in her mind. _**Or do you prefer Cam?**_

The girl smiled weakly, still holding Al'ek's head in her lap. _Cam, please, _she answered politely. _Are you a boy or a girl? _she suddenly asked, unsure of how to think of Kel'an now.

The chuckle returned, weaker this time, sadder. _**Strictly speaking, Cam, I have no gender, **_Kel'an answered. _**I adopt the gender of the host, so I believe you could classify me as 'female' or 'girl'.**_

Cam nodded her head slowly in answer. _What can we do for Al'ek? _she asked.

Kel'an sighed in her mind. _**Hay is flammable, so we can easily burn his body in this field, **_she answered, _**now, if we wished it. We need to get away from this field as quickly as your body will allow.**_

Cam nodded and felt Kel'an forcing her body to stand slowly, moving Al'ek's body off of her legs as they moved. It took a few minutes to search his body and the clearing for anything remotely useful before they both covered Al'ek's body in hay torn from the ground. It took several more minutes before a fire was blazing merrily around and on his body.

The eight year old girl was vaguely aware of Kel'an humming a song under her breath as they looked at the burning pyre for a few more seconds before the entity in her mind turned her body away and left the field, climbing under the fencing before they carried along Camilla's original route.

_Where do we go from here? _Cam asked Kel'an tentatively.

The entity laughed softly. _**Somewhere we can hide for the next few hours in safety, **_she answered. _**I have your body to heal, and memories to share.**_

Cam found herself swallowing convulsively and she shook her head. "You don't want to see my memories," she said quietly. "I don't like thinking about them and you won't either."

A sigh drifted through her mind. _**I am many times older than you, Camilla, **_Kel'an told her gently, _**there is very little, if anything at all, that I have not seen in my long life.**_

The little girl swallowed again. "You won't like them," she repeated. "But I'll let you look if you really want."

The other being chuckled softly. _**There is no 'want' about it, **_Kel'an told her. _**If we are to properly care for each other, then you and I must share our memories, must fully blend for the both of us to gain the most from your body.**_

Cam nodded slowly. She didn't like it, but she didn't want to struggle to breathe for the rest of her life.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Cam curled her body in on itself as much as she could in the field of corn several miles from her home. Kel'an had made comments about needing daylight to gauge how long they had taken and Cam knew about several of the fields in the area, well aware of what grew in them.

_**Now, **_Kel'an breathed tiredly, _**it is time for you and me to share our memories and blend fully. When you next open your eyes, Camilla, your injuries will already be well on their way to completely healed.**_

Cam nodded slowly, coughing for a moment before she felt reality disappear from around her, thousands, if not millions, of memories started to play out in front of her. Information and knowledge that Cam _knew _she _didn't _know started to sink in, even as she watched Al'ek's early life while parts of her own memories seemed to do the same.

As time passed her by, Cam quickly grew to know of the life she had entered, of hosts and symbiotes, of the fight and of Al'ek's living relatives. She learned about Martouf and his own symbiote Lantash and the mother he and Al'ek shared, Saroosh with her symbiote Selmak. More memories of fights, battles, wars and host's loved ones played in front of her mind until, when Cam next opened her eyes, it was to see the setting sun in the west.

She also, quickly, grew aware of the anger Kel'an seemed to be exuding. _**I swear to you, Camilla, I shall not let you suffer like you have done, **_she swore. _**If I can have my way, despite the knowledge we now share, I will have you somewhere you can experience love as it was meant to be, not what your parents distorted it to.**_

Cam winced at that, remembering the abuse, the beatings, the starvation and finally, that last straw that had made her decide to leave. Remorse quickly filled her and Cam knew it wasn't herself, that it was Kel'an, even as soothing and calm emotions covered her.

_**I am sorry, **_her symbiote breathed. _**Quickly, let us leave this place before someone comes across us.**_

A-A-A-A-A-A

**THREE WEEKS LATER, PITTSBURG, CALIFORNIA**

Cam swung her legs under the branch of the oak tree she sat in looking out over a garden, a willow tree sat in the middle of it, but there were apple trees around it. Ripe apples and not so ripe hung from the branches and the girl rubbed at her sore stomach.

It had been days since she'd managed to have a meal and Cam knew Kel'an couldn't hold off her hunger for much longer. As she looked down into the white fenced garden with the lush green grass, she debated the plan she and her symbiote had concocted between themselves.

_Can't you do anything? At all?_

Kel'an sighed in her mind. _**I am sorry, **_she replied. _**I've held it off for the last four days, I cannot hold it off much longer without killing the two of us.**_

Cam nodded slowly at that and checked that her small bag was on her back before she leapt from the tree and into the garden, rolling as she landed. Pausing to look around, she raced for the apple tree closest to the fence and the oak she had jumped from and looked up at the low hanging branches. She'd already looked for signs of anyone in the garden and she moved quickly, not wanting to linger.

With three of the less ripe apples in her arms, Cam made to move to the fence, only to freeze when she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. _**Oh dear, **_Kel'an muttered. _**I should have been more aware.**_

Cam slowly turned around to look at the owner of the hand and saw an older man, older than her own father was, with what she could see was what remained for close-cropped grey hair. He stood taller than Cam and he had his hands now crossed over his chest, a frown marring his features.

"What are you doing with those apples?" he asked her as he continued to frown.

With the memories of her birth father still prominent in her mind, Cam swallowed convulsively against the fear that settled throughout her body. "I was hungry, sir," she admitted quietly, politely. "I haven't eaten in days."

The man continued to frown at her as he held out both hands to her. Hesitating for only a moment, Cam handed the apples back to him, watching as he looked at each of them for a moment before his expression relaxed slightly.

"You're smart," he commented. "You took the ones that weren't ripe yet."

Cam nodded in answer, looking down and away from him. "I thought that whoever owned the trees wouldn't mind if the ripe ones hadn't been touched," she told him. "I didn't want to take a lot, sir."

She started as she heard a twig breaking moments before a red apple was held in front of her. Surprised, she looked up at the man, frowning slightly as she tilted her head at him.

"Go ahead," he told her. "You can eat inside." He looked at her as she slowly took it. "I have enough pancakes that you can have some."

Still somewhat surprised, Cam let him gently usher her inside, pausing to wipe her bare feet outside before moving inside the house. The man led her through the bottom floor to the kitchen and he gestured to the island in the centre of the room.

"Take a seat," he told her.

Cam frowned and looked at him. "Where?" she asked him quietly.

She watched him turn around and look at her before he nodded to the stools. "They would be a good place to start," he told her.

Cam nodded and quickly clambered up one of them, feeling Kel'an's own strength adding to her own as she pulled herself up into the seat.

"You got a name?" the man asked.

Cam paused as she looked at him. She was unsure. As kind as he was, she didn't entirely trust him.

_**Tell him, **_Kel'an urged her gently. _**He won't be able to hurt you, not with me beside you. I can easily fight him off if things go bad.**_

Nodding, the girl took a breath, still marvelling to herself that she could breathe so easily.

"Camilla," she told him. "Camilla Alma, sir."

The man chuckled as he stood at the stove, facing away from her. "Call me Jacob, kid," he told her.

She watched as he turned around and placed a plate stacked with round food in front of her. She sniffed the air suspiciously for a few moments before she picked up a fork and broke a piece of the food off from the rest. While she was aware of 'Jacob' watching her, she was more concerned with the food, making sure it wasn't harmful to her – remembering how many times her mother had slipped various drugs into her food.

When it was proven that it was nice tasting and not poisoned, Cam was mildly surprised with the ferocity that she started to eat the food. She barely paused between mouthfuls to breathe and swallow, almost inhaling the food, suddenly afraid that it would be taken from her.

"Slow down, Camilla," he told her, laughing softly. "You'll make yourself sick if you continue to eat like that."

Cam blushed and nodded, slowing down. "Sorry, sir," she apologised before she ate another bite, forcing herself to eat slower.

The man chuckled, shaking his head. "I told you to call me Jacob," he told her before he frowned and looked at her hair, her skin and her right arm. "Where are your parents?"

Cam put her fork down and looked away from both the food and the man. "They didn't like me," she told him. "They hated me… so I left."

The girl tensed when she felt Jacob lifting the sleeve of her shirt up, revealing the still healing bruise to her forearm. "They did this to you?" he asked and Cam nodded once in answer. "You won't ever go back to them. Sleep here tonight and I'll see what I can do."

Cam nodded slowly and reluctantly returned to her meal, picking at it now. She couldn't hide her fear, nor did she feel Kel'an trying to, both of them far too wary for her age.

They also knew that Jacob was aware of her actions, but even that didn't seem to let her relax.

A-A-A-A-A-A

The sun was just setting, many hours later, when Cam saw Jacob shutting various lights off in the downstairs of his home. She frowned when he moved to the front of the house, locking the front door before he returned to the living room where she was sat on the sofa, her hands folded on her lap.

The young girl was completely unsure what she should have spent the day doing, remembering what she would have done had she been back _home, _fearing her parent's return. Kel'an's memories of her tenure as an undercover agent amoung the Goa'uld had her looking around the room, looking for threats and Cam heard Jacob sigh.

"Come on, Camilla," he told her. "I've got a room upstairs that you can sleep in for the night."

Nodding politely, the young Tok'ra host climbed off of the sofa and walked over to the man, following him up the stairs calmly and to the door that he opened for her.

"This was my daughter's room," Jacob said softly. "She hasn't been back in a few years, but she hasn't taken everything." He looked down at her with a small smile. "Sleep here tonight and I'll make a few calls in the morning."

Cam nodded and stepped inside, taking in the sight of various stuffed bears and other toys on a few bookshelves while thicker, bigger, books littered the rest.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

A-A-A-A-A-A

**THE NEXT MORNING**

Jacob sighed as he helped himself to a couple of painkillers, feeling his joints aching again as he washed the two pills down with a mouthful of water before he poured his coffee.

Camilla Alma was an interesting child and the father in him felt an urge to protect her like she hadn't by her parents before. She'd watched him like a caged animal, waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop and Jacob rubbed at his face.

After he'd been sure Camilla had fallen asleep in Sammy's room, he'd gone downstairs and dialled the number for her apartment in Colorado, hoping that she would be in for the first time in days. He'd gotten through which was followed by a careful conversation with his biological child, explaining the situation before he smiled, remembering his daughter's parting words before she'd said goodbye:

"_Are things really that bad, dad?" Sam asked._

_Jacob nodded, the sight of the bruises littering Camilla's forearms clear in his mind. "Whoever her parents _were, _at least one of them left an imprint on her, Sam," he answered. "Bruises littering her arms and an attitude you would expect from someone back from a warzone."_

_Then his daughter surprised him. "Then adopt her, dad," she said. "I don't mind her taking my room." She'd sighed then. "I don't think I'll be back for a while yet, so the girl can have my room."_

_He'd been left dumb-founded by his daughter before he smiled. "Thanks, Sam," he said. "You need anything?"_

_His blonde-haired daughter chuckled. "Nah," she replied before sighing again. "I've gotta go dad."_

Looking up, hearing a quiet pattering of slow footsteps, Jacob looked up from his coffee and saw Camilla walking slowly down the stairs, her arms wrapped around self-consciously around her body as she looked around.

"You're awake," he said, watching her blue eyes track to him. "You want something to drink?"

The girl bit her lip, obviously unsure as she walked from the stairs towards the kitchen, moving slowly still. "I…uh…" she said quietly, drifting off and Jacob understood, placing a glass of orange squash in front of her.

"Drink up," he told her. "You sleep well?"

Camilla nodded as she took the glass from the counter, holding it gingerly – almost as if she was afraid of actually touching it – before she took a sip. "Yes si- Jacob," she answered. "Thank you."

Shaking his head as he put some toast on, Jacob found himself chuckling. "You don't need to keep thanking me," he told her firmly before he looked at her, crouching down in front of her.

The girl took a cautious step back and Jacob found himself holding his hands open, palms facing her as she looked at him, wary. Jacob cursed the existence of her biological parents, feeling the deep-seated urge to beat her so-called father to a bloody pulp.

"I called my daughter last night," he told Camilla, looking at her. "I asked her that if you wanted to stay, could you have her room." Camilla tilted her head as she simultaneously relaxed and tensed further. "I want to know if you want to stay here longer, Camilla."

The young child – Jacob wouldn't put her older than ten, but certainly above five years old – looked at him warily. "You want me to stay?" she asked.

He nodded and Jacob watched as she looked away, her hair falling her face as she seemed to think. "I want to help you, kid," he told her. "Every child deserves a place with a family that loves them."

The girl lifted one hand and pulled her hair back, curling it behind an ear as she looked at him, suddenly vulnerable. "You really mean it?" she asked.

Jacob nodded again. "If you let me, I won't let you go back to your parents," he promised. "I'll do whatever I can to make sure that never happens."

When he saw the girl edging towards him, he held his arms open to her and let her come into an embrace at her own pace. When he felt her arms wrap around his chest, Jacob carefully wrapped his own arms around her, keeping his grip loose as he returned her hug, using one hand to gently cradle her head to his shoulder.

"Thank you, Jacob," Camilla breathed.

For once, Jacob didn't correct her, didn't tell her to stop, but just held the scared girl in his arms. He held her, feeling her thin body in his embrace before he stood, still holding her small body in his embrace. Camilla squeaked in his ear, her arms tightening for a moment before she pulled back to look at him.

"How old are you?" Jacob asked her.

If he was going through on his hastily made plans, then it was time he knew what he could about the little girl in his arms. "Eight," she answered after a few seconds. "I just turned eight."

* * *

**That's it for the first chapter of Camilla's life with Kel'an and I hope to continue this on, adding to it when I can. Let me know your opinions and I'll have another chapter ready for you ASAP. *tilts head for a moment* I think I can get another one out when I next update TiA. Any who, enjoy this, leave feedback that I will enjoy reading and wait just a little longer before the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything Stargate related or belonging to MGM and whoever owns everything Stargate. I'm just using the idea, the premise, and the characters to write. I'll be nice and put things back, but they're not mine.**

**Now, on with the show!**

* * *

**THREE DAYS LATER**

Cam hefted the small bag she'd carried with her from her parent's home, carrying the few possessions she cared about. Both she and Kel'an had believed what the man had said about not letting her go back to her parents, but there was that very small part of her that worried now about being sent to an orphanage.

Jacob was crouched in front of her, his hands open and at his sides like last time and the girl watched him look up at the social security worker. As much as she knew that she could easily fight and run from the worker without much trouble, she was still very much afraid.

"The police and social security workers have been told," Jacob told her quietly. "All you'll have to do at the orphanage is show them the bruises that you showed me and they'll let you stay there until the paperwork is completed."

Cam nodded slowly at that, understanding, even as she regretted accepting his request. If all this had to happen before she could stay with him, then she wasn't sure if she wanted to go through with it.

Jacob chuckled softly, and reached into a pocket, drawing something out. "If you feel like you have to talk to me," he said, "then you can call me on this number."

Cam took the object he offered to her, noticing that it was a piece of paper with a series of numbers written on it, the entirety of it written in threes to make the total. She nodded slowly, already sensing the numbers in her memory.

**_It does not matter if you lose the paper, Camilla, _**Kel'an told her quietly, quickly. **_Because of my presence, it is far easier for you to remember what you see, what you feel and what you know._**

Cam nodded slowly again, looking up at Jacob and felt her lip quivering slightly. "Do I have to go?" she asked quietly.

The girl certainly wished she'd been born on another world, just to make Jacob's adoption of her easier – she knew that on Goa'uld worlds, there was nothing complex to it, a person could claim a child willingly and there would be nothing more to it. The people of Earth made things almost unnecessarily complex.

When Jacob reached for her, Cam went willingly into his arms, fighting her own reactions as he held her. "I know you want to stay," he said. "I want you to as well, but you have to go for a little while."

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Jacob watched as Camilla kept looking back at him as the social worker gently led her away. In just a few short days with her staying in the house, the prospect of her leaving like she was hurt him just a little.

That little girl held such trust and faith in him that it amazed him how little her own parents had seemed to care for her. The bruises that he'd seen on her arms had lasted the days with him, only just starting to fade and Jacob wondered how much force her so-called father had used on her.

Sighing, he stood and waved at her as the car drove off, waiting until the car had disappeared before he went back inside the house. It was time, while he waited for everything to settle with the courts, to get Sammy's room ready for Camilla.

The girl was young, little really, needing her own space to grow up, not someone else's room, decorated to their liking. Camilla needed her own space, her own room.

It was time for him to go shopping again. A prospect that he hated but knew was most definitely needed.

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

**ONE WEEK LATER**

Cam ducked under the punch that came at her. She was seriously regretting going along with Jacob's offer; bullies, it seemed, were universal no matter the forms they took. Be it her parents or children in her own age range.

**_I can always take care of them if you want, _**Kel'an offered as Cam did her best to avoid the blows that kept coming at her.

Shaking her head as she lifted her forearms to block another poor punch, Cam hoped that the people around her mistook her head shake. _I thought we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves, _she responded, crying out as someone kicked at her right knee.

The eight year old heard it break as well as felt her leg shift to a slightly odd angle and she found herself remembering how Al'ek had looked. It was enough to make her angry. It was also the same knee that had bothered her all those weeks ago when she had run away.

Before she could do anything, she heard raised voices and someone pulling her back and stepping between her and the bullies. Lowering her arms slowly, Cam looked at her 'saviour' and watched as the group of bullies turned and ran from the tall boy in front of her.

Though, she supposed, they were older than 'boy', more like teenager, or adult from how tall they stood. He turned and looked at her, his blue eyes taking in her appearance as he crouched down in front of her, putting himself so that he was level with her.

Blue eyes met as both evaluated the other, taking stock of the appearance. The teenage boy in front of Cam held pale blue eyes and short, sandy hair and a couple of scars that she could easily see at his elbow and one at his wrist - barely even visible to the eyes.

"You okay?" he asked.

Cam nodded slowly, her body tense, wary of him. "I'm alright," she said before she shifted and hissed, suddenly wishing she hadn't moved her right leg. "They may have bruised my knee."

**_That's a lie, _**Kel'an commented. **_Broken, shattered, would be more applicable. By the time any doctor looks to take care of you, the damage will be a lot less._**

Cam squeaked then as the boy literally picked her up, holding her in his arms. "Where's your bed?" he asked as he stood up. "I'll take you there so you can rest for a bit."

The Tok'ra host nodded and pointed to the end of the large room they were in. "The people stuck my stuff in there," she told him quietly, waiting until he'd started walking before she looked at him. "What's your name?"

The boy chuckled in answer. "What's yours?" he asked in return.

Cam smiled at that, knowing a deflection technique when she saw one. "You didn't answer my question," she told him.

The boy chuckled as he used his elbow to open the door, kicking it shut behind him. "Funny name," he said. "You have something more conventional than that?"

Rolling her eyes as the boy placed her on the bed, she felt Kel'an quickly masking her pain as he jostled her leg. "Camilla," she told him. "Your name?"

He shrugged a shoulder. "Why were the boys picking on you?" he asked.

Realising that he wasn't going to relent, the girl sighed. "I'm new here," she answered. "I'm not staying long."

He nodded as he looked at her, his blue eyes taking in her appearance again. "Well, they won't do that again," he told her. "Made it clear what'll happen to them if they do."

Cam nodded and watched as the boy stood and made to leave. "Can I have your name?" she asked him. "Please."

He looked at her closely before he reached for a bit of paper and a pen. "If you are leaving soon, you can write to me here," he told her. "My name's on it."

Cam took the paper he held out to her seconds later and frowned at the name. "'G'?" she asked, looking up, only to frown at the boy had disappeared.

**_Well, mai'tac, he moves quietly!_**

Cam felt her eyes widening at her symbiote's comment and nodded mutely, not entirely sure if she could trust her voice or her thoughts just yet.

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

**THREE MONTHS LATER, AUGUST 17TH**

After just over three months away from Jacob and his home, Cam was more than a little curious as to what the man could have possibly changed about his house. But, with memories of the house that Peter and Sarah – her father and mother respectively – had kept, it didn't really surprise her that only a few, small things had changed.

The orientation of the living room had shifted slightly, as had the dining room and a small library at the back of the house. She couldn't be sure about the upstairs, but the girl was sure not much had changed there either.

As a testament to the friendship of the boy from the orphanage and her own desire for control, Cam barely flinched when she felt Jacob rest a hand on her right shoulder. The man had driven down to the orphanage himself that morning to get her and the girl had loved spending every extra minute with him, even if he was driving.

Her now adopted dad gently nudged her towards the stairs and she smiled, hefting her newer bag up on her shoulder. "Let's drop your things off upstairs," Jacob told her.

Cam nodded and followed the man up the wooden stairs, moving carefully as she bowed her head slightly. _Are you alright Kel'? _she asked.

She knew that the way things were working out right now, Cam was getting everything she had ever wanted – a loving parent – but it was only now that she was thinking of her symbiote, her dear friend and her own desires.

The Tok'ra symbiote hummed in answer, a smile drifting across Cam's features before it faded quickly as Jacob turned to look at her. **_There have been few of my hosts that have had good memories of growing up, _**Kel'an answered. **_And while you, too, have not had the best start, I find myself relishing in the opportunity to act as my host, young and carefree, safe from the rest of the world._**

Cam smiled again, even as she reached the landing of the upper floor. _I've never had a real childhood, Kel', _she gently reminded her friend, feeling her shift the bag a little more. _It will be different for me to experience it than to 'remember' it as one of your previous hosts._

Before either 'person' could talk, Cam watched as Jacob stopped by the door to the room she had spent those first few, precious, days. When the man didn't open the door, the eight year old tilted her head and frowned slightly at him, curious. Jacob chuckled in response and stepped away from the door, gesturing to it with one hand.

"This is your room, Camilla," he told her. "Go ahead."

Cam stepped tentatively towards the door, resting her right hand on the handle before she turned it and opened the door inwards. Startled at the sudden change in appearance of the room, the Tok'ra host took in her surroundings piece by piece.

The last time she had seen the room, it had had mint green walls, the entrance 'corridor' of the room opening out onto the main bedroom while the walls of the 'corridor' had had a white bookcase on the left and a built in cupboard on the right. The room had had posters and books and toys littering the walls, bookcases and bed, many of them space themed.

Now, however, the walls were painted a creamy colour with a dark brown strip – almost the colour of dark Belgian chocolate – along the top of the walls before they met the sloped ceiling. The NASA and various space posters were gone, as were many of the toys and books and Cam found herself looking around the room in awe.

"You like the room?" she heard Jacob ask as she stepped further into the room and over to the bed that lay beneath a slightly ornate window.

The Tok'ra nodded slowly as she turned around, taking in the sight of everything, even as she looked at him, barely registering the white of the ceiling. "You did all this for me?" she asked quietly.

She noticed that Jacob was leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed, even as she heard him chuckle and saw a small smile creeping across his face. "Despite everything, Camilla," he said, "I've only really just started."

Carefully placing her bag down on the end of the bed, Cam moved to her 'father' and embraced him quickly around the middle. "Thank you," she breathed.

Jacob chuckled again and rested his hands on her shoulders, squeezing gently and the Tok'ra belatedly realised it was a form of a hug, one where he allowed her some form of control and she stepped back to look at him, smiling up at the man that had quickly come to mean more as her father than Peter Alma ever had.

"I spoke with Sam while I was getting everything sorted," he told her. "I remember you said you'd turned eight when I met you."

Cam frowned but nodded. With Kel'an aiding her body, keeping her now in top condition, she could easily remember the conversation.

"I remember," she said quietly.

Jacob nodded. "Well," he said, humming as he paused. "Since I adopted you legally, I thought that you might want to celebrate a different day for your birthday." Cam frowned again, stumped by his implications and Jacob sighed, crouching down in front of her, gently gripping her upper arms, so very loosely that Cam was surprised he was even trying in the first place. "I know your biological parents weren't very good and I was hoping that you might want a clean slate to forget about them."

**_Not that we ever will, _**Kel'an muttered quietly. **_But he is offering you something that is more than I would have thought possible of someone who does not know suffering like you and I have._**

Cam looked at him, biting her bottom lip. "And if I do?" she asked. "What if I do want to start clean? When would we celebrate?"

Jacob smiled at her then. "I was thinking today," he told her. "Start you off with new memories, good memories. And my other daughter sent some things over that I think you would have liked to open on your birthday."

Cam rolled her shoulders slightly, jostling Jacob's grip on her arms and she stepped forwards, embracing the man again, wrapping her arms carefully – but quickly – around his neck in another hug. The young host was well aware of the strength that Kel'an had opened in her body, remembering the small plastic bottles that had seen her anger at its fullest before either of them had managed to bring her strength under control.

"I like the idea," she told Jacob as he wrapped his own arms around her and stood, holding her against him. "I really like it."

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Jacob watched as Camilla slowly opened the presents that he had gotten her. Sam had sent a few, small gifts and he had already watched Camilla unwrap a notebook from 'her older sister', smiling reverently at the clean, tidy cover.

Jacob knew he hadn't gotten her much. Living on an Air Force General's pay wasn't always easy – and that had been when it was just him – he had done his best to spoil the newest addition to the Carter family, even if Mark refused to do the same.

Camilla looked up at him, grinning from ear to ear at the diary she held in her hands. While Jacob hadn't been one for writing is feelings down like Sammy had often done, he figured that the little girl would want something to write in, get feelings out that she felt she couldn't talk to him about.

_That will certainly change, _he thought to himself. _She's a kid, she deserves to act like one._

He returned her smile, watching as she opened it, checked the small lock and put it carefully to one side, placing it down beside the pens, notebook and a small collection of sweets Sam had sent through. Jacob watched as Camilla frowned and picked up a fairly sizable package – in comparison to what she'd already received – before looking at him.

Jacob nodded at the gift. "It's your birthday gift," he told her. "You get to open it."

He watched as she nodded and carefully peeled it, moving slower and far more carefully than she had with the previous gifts and Jacob bit the inside of his cheek to try and stifle the smile he knew would begin to grow in a few seconds.

He hadn't been able to find anything and had promptly turned to Sam for help, hoping she'd either find something or point him in the right direction. Instead it had been a gift that they'd secretly collaborated on, much like Camilla's bedroom; the colours of the walls had been suggested by Sam until the eight year could pick out her own choice of colours.

After a few seconds, Jacob saw a tell tale round ear covered in soft fur and watched as Camilla's eyes widened almost comically before she pulled the wrapping off, revealing a cuddly toy teddy bear. The fur was a warm, tan colour and the bear had two brown eyes peering at the girl while its paws seemed to rest near the blue bowtie around its neck.

Seeing her reverently stroking the soft fur, Jacob couldn't help the grin that spread across his face, a mirror of Camilla's earlier grin. It looked like both he and Sam had made the right call as the eight year old clutched the bear close to her, burying her nose in the fur with a sound of contentment that Jacob would have sworn came from a cat.

Still smiling, Jacob moved into the kitchen and to the fridge where he'd hidden a small birthday cake for her, carefully carrying it – and a candle and lighter – through to the dining room table. As he set the cake up for her, Jacob glanced at Camilla and forcefully shoved the urge to punch the nearest wall to one side as he saw the confused look on her face, her head tilting slightly as she still held the bear, resting one cheek on top of its head.

_I'll make you forget that your parents ever existed, _he promised her silently. _You're just a kid, a kid who deserves to be spoiled._

Her previous parents would certainly have a lot to answer for if Jacob ever got his hands on them, but he was willing – for now – to put it to one side and just take care of Camilla.

* * *

**Please, let me know what you all think, too much shmultz, not enough? I've got The Tok'ra Parts 1 & 2 mostly done, so I'm willing to write in parts that go before or after it. Just let me know. I really want to hear your opinions!**

**Response to reviews:**

As always, this is for the Guests amoung us, so here I go:

**Cinnamon snaps: **I'm glad you liked the previous chapter and I hope that you'll enjoy the rest of the series – if I ever get around to planning how I'll end it all.

* * *

**I will unashamedly admit here and now that I am laying partial ground-works for a crossover that's been bouncing around inside my skull since a friend of mine hinted at the idea. I've tried really hard here to just leave it at a barely introduced character from the planned franchise just in case I don't go through with it entirely or drop the plot idea. I've made it so it can just be a plain character or something I can expand on at a later date – which I hope to be able to do.**

**Mini-competition (sorta): Not really a competition, but if anyone wants to guess which franchise I'm planning on writing a crossover-fic for, then please, have a go, it'll be interesting just how loosely I've written this character in. If no one gets who I've nabbed by the next chapter post, then I will give you all a clue.**

******I know I've rushed through this, so please, let me know if there's anything you want to see happen. I'll either juggle chapters here, or add one-shots to my story list with your ideas. Do let me know. In the mean time, read and enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything Stargate related or belonging to MGM and whoever owns everything Stargate. I'm just using the idea, the premise, and the characters to write. I'll be nice and put things back, but they're not mine.**

**I'm posting this chapter now and I ask you, the viewers, what chapter should I write next? I do plan on writing about Camilla's experience in meeting Per'sus, but I was wondering if you all wanted me to write in chronological order (episode 1, 2, 3, 4) or in whatever order plots come at me (episode 1, 10, 25, 3, 5, 2, 4). Please let me know, you opinions all matter and I want to know what you all think before I even think of planning to post another chapter.**

**Now, here's the Tok'ra Parts 1 & 2.**

* * *

**1998, COLORADO SPRINGS, AUGUST 17TH **

Allowing herself a small treat, Camilla Carter had woken up late on her birthday, smiling at the tradition her father had started six years before as she got ready for the day. In the six years she had been Camilla _Carter _and not Alma, she had received various gifts from friends and her sister, all of them cherished beyond expectations. With Kel'an's knowledge floating around in her mind with more of the technical being unlocked with every passing day and week, the teenage girl knew many of the gifts and cards sent and given to her were meant to be frivolous, fun and maybe useful, but those gifts still held place of importance in her heart.

Reaching for her tan shirt, jacket and fingerless gloves, Cam smiled weakly. Despite Earth having no access to the Tok'ra that she knew of, the girl had subconsciously taken to dressing in colours and clothes similar to her brethren amoung the stars, acting as a silent homage and beacon for her place amoung the Tok'ra. Slipping them on with practiced movements, she quickly ran a hand through her short hair, doing her best to remove all the tangles, even as she heard Kel'an grunting quietly in her mind.

**_Morning, kid, _**her symbiote rumbled tiredly. **_Happy Birthday._**

Cam smiled as she glanced in her vanity mirror, running another hand through her hair. _Happy Birthday, Kel', _she responded. _This is the first one away from home._

Shaking her head as she quickly cleaned her room, making her bed and slipping clothes into the wash basket, Cam felt her mind drifting over the previous months with more than a hint of melancholy. After having seen all the signs of cancer, she'd been unprepared for the diagnosis of Lymphoma all those months ago and she'd been just as surprised to find the man planning to move from Pittsburgh in California all the way to Colorado Springs. She'd also followed him, bringing her belongings that she would need as she ignored Jacob's orders for her to go and stay with Mark.

Shaking her head as she forced the memories to one side, she sighed and left her room, absently shutting the door behind her before she walked down the small corridor of the apartment towards the living room. Cam didn't register anything wrong as she entered the room and made to go to the radio, intent on switching it on and listening to some music. Instead, her path to the radio was blocked by Jacob's shuddering form on the carpeted floor, his morning clothes soaked through with sweat as yet more beaded his brow.

Without a second thought or Kel'an urging her to do so, Cam reached for the phone as she raced to her father, crouching at his head as she began dialling one of two numbers she had memorised as she used her free hand to easily lift Jacob's head into her lap.

_"This is nine-one-one emergency, how can I help?"_

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

As much as George Hammond was looking forwards to spending a quiet weekend with his grand-daughter, Jacob's cancer distracted him more than he was willing to admit. He'd saved the man in Vietnam only for him to be afflicted with terminal cancer. Knowing that it was terminal was more than enough to distract George from the paperwork littering his desk.

So, when his desk phone rang, he was thankful for the distraction to his distraction and he picked it up quickly. "Hammond," he answered automatically.

_"There's a Ms. Camilla Carter on the line for you, General,"_ the SGC's admin reported calmly.

Nodding, George leaned back in his chair and placed his pen down. "Put her through," he ordered.

_"Yes sir."_

There was a quick series of clicks as the call was connected and George found himself worry about what Jacob's youngest daughter was calling about.

_"General Hammond?"_

The Air Force General found his heart clenching at the quiet, meek, tone of the teen's voice, sounding like the scarred little girl he had met. "Camilla," he said gently. "What's wrong?"

There was a quiet sniff from the other end of the phone and George found his heart racing in trepidation. _"It's dad," _she answered quietly. _"I'd just left my room and went to put the radio on in the lounge when I found him collapsed in front of the phone." _She seemed to draw in a shuddering breath. _"The EMTs brought us to the Air Force Academy's hospital, but they aren't telling me much."_

Running a hand over his face, George groaned and quickly made up his mind. SG-1 was off-world on a diplomatic mission and he knew they weren't due back for a few hours yet. "Oh no," he breathed. "I'll be right there, Camilla."

He heard a quiet sniff followed by a short sigh. _"Thank you, sir," _the girl said quietly.

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Cam waited for General Hammond to hang up before she handed the receiver to the nurse behind the desk, smiling weakly in thanks before she turned around and walked back to the room she'd heard the doctors assigning to Jacob.

Well, Kel'an had heard, enhanced her own hearing and let her hear it, but that was merely semantics for the Tok'ra. Leaning against the wall to the right of the door, Cam closed her eyes and folded her arms tiredly.

_Are you sure there isn't anything we could use of Earth technology, Kel'? _she asked, continuing one of their oldest conversations.

She received a mirthless chuckle in answer. **_There is little that I can do to enhance Earth technology, _**she answered. **_The crystals needed for healing devices that the Tok'ra use are specifically crafted to do their work. As far as I have been able to find out about Earth, there are no suitable crystals to craft if I knew how nor are there enough crystal shards from our rummaging at the crash site to make one worthwhile._**

The teen sighed and raised one hand blindly to pinch the bridge of her nose, feeling the gentle rasp of her tan, fingerless gloves against the skin of her face. _I just feel so useless, _she said quietly. _With your memories floating around in my mind, it just feels so much worse knowing that if we had access to the proper technology, we could have healed his cancer long ago. But we don't and I can't help but face the word 'terminal'!_

She heard Kel'an sigh and felt an impression of a hug on her skin, the nerves firing in just the right way to tell her that her symbiote was doing her best to soothe her frayed nerves. They didn't talk any further, just taking silent support from the other as the host slid her hands into the pockets of her long, tan jacket.

An age seemed to pass before the hospital doors at the far end of the corridor on their left opened suddenly, allowing a male doctor, three nurses and one hospital bed through. Cam didn't need to look hard to see that her father lay unconscious under the hospital blanket and she bit her lip as she stood up from the wall, watching as the nurses wheeled her father inside the room while the doctor stopped in front of her. Worried at the apparent silence, the Tok'ra, both host and symbiote, felt their respective stomachs drop.

"We took General Carter up to Radiology," the doctor told her. "We took a few scans as well as CT. All of which confirmed my fears."

Leaning back against the wall, Cam ran her hands through her hair again. "Where?" she asked, needing to know.

The doctor sighed. "His liver," he answered. "It explains the slight jaundice to his skin as well as many of the other symptoms you reported to the EMTs." He sighed again. "The chemo that he's been undergoing has had no affect from the size of the growth."

Cam drew in a ragged breath, stifling tears as she looked at the doctor in disbelief. "They told us the cancer wasn't going to get this far this soon," she told him. "They said months, before it got this far… not this soon!"

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Half an hour later, Cam sat on the edge of Jacob's bed, her left leg folded neatly beneath her as her right foot stayed anchored to the floor, her knee locked as she stayed on the edge, both of her hands gently grasping Jacob's hand and wrist. Her fingers rested lightly on his pulse point, letting her focus on the racing pulse instead of her thoughts, instead of the steady hiss of oxygen coming from the poorly seated nasal cannula around his face.

She'd taken the time earlier just after her talk with the doctor, to call Mark and she'd been angered quickly. She'd known that the man had a severe hatred for his father stemming from something that had happened years ago, but his cavalier attitude to the news that Jacob was on his deathbed had quickly boiled her blood beyond many things she had experienced in her life.

Hearing a gentle click of shoes, Cam tensed and looked to the door to the private room, far too many memories of Kel'an's having her ready to fight at a moment's notice. She felt a steady thrum of adrenaline enter her blood, her muscles twitching, ready for a fight moments before they both saw a familiar face at the doorway, forcing both Tok'ra host and symbiote to relax.

General George Hammond walked into the room and Cam reluctantly released one of her hands on her father's wrist and extended it to the man over her father's sleeping form. "General Hammond," she greeted him quietly.

He took her hand in his, using his free hand to gently wrap around it soothingly as he nodded at her. "Camilla," he greeted her before they let go of the other. "How is he?"

Cam took a steadying breath as she looked back to her father. "They did some scans," she told him. "Since the Lymphoma's spread to his liver, they've called it Extra-nodal now." She swallowed convulsively. "They aren't optimistic on his chances."

She focused intently on Jacob's face, on his appearance, forcing herself to look past the jaundice tinting his pale, clammy skin as he lay propped up in the hospital bed. In silent testament to Jacob's patience with her through the years, the Tok'ra didn't react as he placed a soothing hand on her shoulder.

"He'll pull through, Camilla," he told her firmly. "He's a fighter."

Cam forced a smile to cross her face, doing her best to fight the urge to say what she wanted. _Even the best fighters can lose, _she said.

**_But they can also win, _**Kel'an reminded her gently. **_There is no way that the man will give up. He has you to fight for._**

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sensation of Jacob's pulse beating faster at her fingertips moments before Jacob groaned and opened his eyes, his gaze focusing on her then General Hammond. "George?" he asked.

Hammond nodded as Cam gestured to the hospital chair a few feet away. "Jacob," he replied."Are you alright?"

The man snorted in answer. "I've been better," he rasped out.

Cam smiled at that, gently gripping her father's hand tighter before firmly relaxing her grip. "I was under the impression that the cancer hadn't gone this far," Hammond said as he took the seat.

Jacob grunted. "So was I," he said. "They cleaned out all the lymph nodes. The problem is, apparently," and here the man rolled his eyes slightly, "one squadron of those little buggers got themselves reassigned to my liver."

Cam smiled at the terminology, fighting back tears at that. Hammond seemed to make up his mind.

"Let me make a call," he said, reaching for the nearby phone in the room, "get Captain Carter recalled."

For a man technically dying of an incurable disease, Cam watched as her father moved with a surprising speed and gripped his forearm, halting the General. "No," he told him firmly, coughing. "There's no need."

Hammond stopped and looked at the man and Cam began to realise the depths of friendship the two had and she suddenly realised that her being there in the room wasn't going to help and she sighed, reluctantly letting go of Jacob's hand.

"I'm a little hungry," she told the two men, lying. "Is there anything I can get anyone? Coke? Pepsi? Coffee?"

Hammond smiled and nodded at her last question. "If it isn't too much trouble, Camilla?" he asked.

Cam forced a small smile onto her face and climbed off of the bed, reaching for her dark leather shoulder bag where she knew her purse was kept. "Not any trouble," she told him before she looked at her father. "Dad?"

He chuckled at her. "A burger?" he asked.

Cam chuckled in return and nodded, moving around the bed to press a quick kiss to his forehead. "I'll see what I can get," she promised before she left the room.

She walked without thinking down the corridors, heading in the direction of the canteen before she stopped and leaned against one of the walls. Burying her head in her hands, the teenager started to cry, muffling her sobs into her hands as she closed her eyes and sought the comfort of her dearest friend.

_Why? _she asked Kel'an brokenly. _Why does he have to die?! There is nothing I can do and he's going to die._

She felt Kel'an's mental embrace again, tighter, harder, this time. **_I am so sorry my friend, _**she breathed in return, **_I am so very sorry that there is nothing that I can do._**

Cam took a shuddering breath in. _If it wouldn't kill me, I would beg you to take him as host, _she said. _I know you can cure cancer, but…_

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Martouf paused to shake sand out of his clothes and hair – how the fine grains managed to get into his hair despite the leather cap, Martouf didn't know – as he looked at the humans in front of the rest of the Tok'ra.

The group of four, three men and one woman, had come onto the planet hours after a mechanical droid had done so, and the scouts had reported that the one had gone to the machine before shaking their head and following the rest of the small group. Looking at them, he could see one of Apophis' Jaffa and he could easily sense a symbiote within him, the humming in his blood easily confirming it, even as he felt another, weaker hum coming from the woman, her blonde hair shorter than he had ever seen a woman wear it.

Her eyes were darting around the faces of the Tok'ra, her gaze calm despite the fact that they outnumbered everyone in her group.

**"We mean you no harm," **Cordesh said as he stepped closer, holding his Staff Weapon at his side. **"But I warn you, if you make any aggressive moves, we will fire upon you."**

The man crouched in the sand, his weapon pointed at Cordesh seemed to smirk. "Same here," he said.

If Martouf didn't know any better, he would have said the man was agreeing, or at least joking with them. Cordesh laughed, letting out a chuckle. **"Well," **he said. **"I think we have the advantage. There are more of us."**

Martouf walked up, clutching at his own Staff Weapon, anger filling his veins the more he looked at the Jaffa.

"This one is a Jaffa," he said, glaring at the Jaffa before he saw the golden tint to it. "Apophis Sect."

The Jaffa bowed his head in recognition. "I am no longer in the service of Apophis," he said calmly.

Grinding his teeth, Martouf bit back a snarl. Apophis' own Jaffa years ago had spoken under torture of the harm they had done to his brother and his lover. There was little that he could forgive of any of Apophis' men.

"Who, then, are you in service to?" he ground out.

The 'former' slave of Apophis nodded to the others in the same clothes as him, the others in his group. "I am allied with these," he answered. "The Tau'ri, in battle against Apophis."

**_If what he says is true… _**Lantash began in his mind, only to drift off for a few seconds, **_He is the first I have ever heard of splitting from his Master in such a fashion. A bold one though it may be._**

Shaking his head slightly, knowing only the other Tok'ra would see and know, Martouf knew he had missed part of the conversation listening to his symbiote. "Because they are Goa'uld," the woman said.

**"Do not call us that!" **Cordesh said and Martouf watched as his eyes glowed. **"We are not Goa'uld."**

The man crouched in the dirt seemed to think before he smirked slightly. "You know," he said calmly, "in some galaxies, this is called loitering." He looked at Cordesh. "How long do ya think we can keep this up?"

Martouf felt eyes on him, unfamiliar eyes and looked towards their source, an eyebrow arching at the woman when he saw her looking at him. "Martouf," she said, recognition in both her voice and her face.

The Tok'ra host looked at the woman, frowning now, even as he glanced to Cordesh. "I do not know this woman," he said.

He truly did not. Though her features were remarkably similar to his mate, Rosha, he did not recognise her. He did wonder about her and Jolinar and could only sigh quietly under his breath.

"But I'm right, aren't I?" the woman asked, her grip on her weapon relaxing slightly. "That's your name, Martouf."

He nodded once at her. "It is," he answered. "How do you know me?"

The woman shook her head. "I don't," she answered. "But I knew someone who did. His name was Jolinar of Malk-shur."

Martouf felt his heart stop then start again under the direction of his symbiote. Hope spread through him like wild-fire and he found his heart pounding, blood puling hot and ready in his veins. His mate was live, somewhere, waiting for him.

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Cam walked the corridors of the hospital calmly, evidence of her tears gone with a quick visit to a nearby loo before she'd carried on to the canteen and made her way back, carrying a coffee in one hand, a bottle of Pepsi in her jacket pocket and a burger in her bag. A disposable cup of milk was in her other hand while sachets of sugar remained in her jeans pocket.

Rounding the corner onto the corridor that lead to her father's hospital room, the Tok'ra found her eyes widening in horror at the sight of several nurses and doctors racing into Jacob's room.

"Oh please, no," she breathed, suddenly running along the corridor and almost into General Hammond as she entered the room.

She saw one doctor checking Jacob's pulse before he shook his head. "Again," he said, picking up a pair of paddles. "300."

She watched as he rubbed the paddles together for a moment before he placed them on two orange squares on Jacob's bare chest, his hospital gown torn and shredded from the nurses rushing to get the pads in place. The Doctor nodded.

"300," one nurse confirmed.

"Clear!" the doctor ordered, the nurses stepping back slightly at his command.

He pressed the paddles to Jacob's chest and a shock surged through her father's body, arching it. The doctor placed the paddles down and checked her father.

"Normal sinus," he clarified. "Okay." He smiled as he pulled his penlight out and leaned over slightly, shining it in Jacob's eyes. "Hey General. How're you doing?"

Cam sighed in relief as she heard the flat lines disappear as Jacob merely groaned in response. She moved passed Hammond over to her father's side, placing the coffee down with the milk. She gently took her father's hand into her own and grasped it gently, careful not to use all her strength.

"Just hold on dad," she muttered. "Please. Please, don't die. Hold on."

She looked up moments later when she heard Hammond clearing his throat from behind her and she turned her head to look at him.

"I'm going back to base," he said. "I'm calling Captain Carter back."

Cam nodded at that and looked at her father, tears in her eyes. "He won't admit it, but he needs to see her," he said. "He told me about the award ceremony being cancelled and how disappointed he'd been, not able to know what his daughter was up to."

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Cam didn't rest in the hours that General Hammond was gone, despite her nerves ruling ruthlessly over her. Kel'an's presence in her body was enough to keep her awake, her symbiote removing the chemicals building up in her body from her worry and the exhausting day.

She and Jacob hadn't spoken, instead sitting in silence, the Tok'ra fretting over the situation yet she felt calm, spending some literally quiet time with her father, the two of them sitting in companionable silence. The young Tok'ra kept silent watch over her father, even as he dozed off multiple times, acting as a silent guard, pleading silently that he would hold on just a little longer.

It took time, but eventually Cam heard multiple footsteps, one set she recognised easily, walking down the corridor outside the room. Kel'an had heightened her hearing long ago, lifting it far above normal and the host was easily able to block out the noises coming from the nurses in the room, one of which was checking on her father's IV port in the back of his hand.

She looked up at the door, relaxing slightly as she saw General Hammond and a woman she remembered was Jacob's eldest, biological daughter from the few Christmas' she had spent with the woman back in Pittsburgh and Kel'an hummed in her mind quietly, relaxing Cam's heightened hearing as Hammond stood at the open door. They both knew the two people who had entered and they relaxed.

"Clear the room, people," Hammond ordered.

Her heart stuttering in her chest, Cam made to stand up at that, well aware that Jacob was turning his head to look at the man. Seeing the General shaking his head, she relaxed and slowly sat back down, her muscles relaxing slightly, even as she heard Jacob sigh tiredly.

"I told you not to recall her," he said.

Sam seemed to smile and chuckle as she stepped over to his bed, the woman apparently relaxed in her green uniform now that the nurses were gone, drawing a small frown from Cam as she felt a hum filling her veins – a small hum that she knew other Tok'ra and Goa'uld associated with other hosts.

"Happy to see you too, dad," she said, taking a careful seat on the right hand side of his hospital bed, perching herself there carefully.

"You wanted me to tell you what Captain Carter does," Hammond said as he closed the door and walked over. "So I thought maybe she could tell you herself."

Jacob arched an eyebrow, looking between the two. "Yeah?" he asked. "What happened to the classification?"

"It's still classified," Hammond told him. "But you both just got clearance."

Cam frowned at that and looked at the General and her sister. "But why do I have it as well?" she asked quietly.

Hammond looked to Sam before she sighed. "If Dad agrees to this, then you'll have to come along," she said. "We thought it'd be easier to explain than have to lie to you."

Cam nodded at that, looking between Samantha and Hammond, drawing a pained sigh from Jacob. "Why now?" he asked. "Why not earlier?"

Samantha looked to him. "Well, believe it or not, we need your help dad," she answered.

Jacob barked out a laugh before he started coughing. "What?" he rasped out. "The Pentagon wants me to deliver a message to God when I get up there?"

Hammond chuckled, shaking his head. "Not exactly," he said.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Well, I don't plan to see the other guy," he said.

Samantha Carter seemed to sigh. "Dad?" she asked. "Have you ever heard of the Stargate Program?"

He shook his head, sighing again. "No," he told her. "Is it one of your satellites?"

Cam watched the conversation from her seat beside her father's bed, her eyes distant as she began to panic in her mind, feeling Kel'an smothering her physical reflexes, loosening her rapidly tensing muscles, easing her panicked breathing and slowing her frantically beating pulse.

_Stargate? _Cam asked her symbiote. _Please tell me I did not just hear Stargate come from my 'sisters' lips!_

Kel'an chuckled mirthlessly in her mind. **_Wish I could, _**she said. **_It looks like this planet does have a Chappa'ai!_**

"We discovered a piece of alien technology," Samantha was saying, drawing her out of her thoughts and conversation. "It can send us to thousands of planets all over the galaxy."

Cam looked up at Hammond, her eyes wide as she took in the new information. "You aren't kidding, are you," Jacob said, forcing himself to sit up in the bed.

Sam shook her head. "No," she answered and that was the last straw for Cam.

A smile that was more surprise than joy split Jacob's face; as Cam leaned back in her chair, surprise echoing throughout the entirety of her being. "Holy Hannah!" he exclaimed before he took a breath. "So, what do you want me to do?"

Samantha smiled and let out a relieved breath. "Well, we'd like you to travel to one of these planets with us," she said.

"Why? So I can die there?"

The woman's smile widened for a moment before falling slightly. "No," she replied. "Actually, I'm hoping what we want you to do will cure your cancer."

"They have a cure there?" he asked as he forced himself to sit up further. "What's the catch?"

Hammond sighed. "It's a doozie Jacob," Hammond told him. "I won't lie to you on that."

Cam looked them at that, finally deciding to speak up, looking between the two that had arrived. "Where is the Chappa'ai?" she asked before she felt her eyes widening.

She'd meant to ask where the device was, not to say what it was and she found everyone's eyes on her at that moment, all of them wide with surprise. Sam and General Hammond seemed to be even more surprised as they looked at her and the Tok'ra watched as her sister turned slightly, tilting her head to an angle of disbelief as she looked at her.

"Where did you learn that word?" the older woman asked.

Cam swallowed convulsively, her whole body tensing once more as she felt adrenaline starting to pump through her veins, speeding the naquadah throughout her body. Taking a breath, she looked at her sister and licked her lips anxiously.

"Who's your symbiote?" she asked after a moment.

Surprise echoed on her sister's face as well as Hammond's as Sam sat back slightly. "Jolinar of Malk-shur," she answered. "Why do you ask?"

Cam swallowed convulsively again. "She should have memories of a Tok'ra and his host," she said. "Al'ek and Kel'an."

She watched her sister closed her eyes, frowning before she relaxed and looked at her. "Al'ek went missing six years ago," she said. "Presumed dead after so long."

Cam nodded slowly at that. "I became Kel'an's host," she said quietly. "That is how I know."

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Knowing urgency that relied on more than one life, Jack drove the military vehicle himself, driving just over the limit and taking all the shortcuts he could remember. He glanced into the back of the truck, watching as Captain Carter and her sister spoke with their father, the man looking between the two as they talked.

He glanced to General Hammond sitting in the passenger seat on his right. "How does the kid know?" he asked quietly. "Carter mentioned she did, but didn't say anything further."

Hammond looked at him as he took a sharp right-hand corner turn. "Apparently Camilla Carter's a host to one of the Tok'ra," he answered as Jack push the speed of the truck up higher, accelerating as fast as he dared on a straight stretch of road. "From what she says, she sensed her sister when she came into the room."

Jack shook his head, glancing in the rear-view mirror, watching the family again. The younger, Camilla Carter, seemed to hold herself with military ease, her back straight, her posture ready for a fight even as she remained fairly relaxed.

"Carter said something about it a while back," Jack admitted. "Said she could 'sense' T' and know it was him by the way he felt."

Hammond nodded. "From the way Ms. Carter spoke, it's similar for her," he said.

"It's because of the naquadah in our blood, Colonel, General," they both heard a small, female voice speak from the back of the truck.

Jack looked in the rear-view again, seeing Camilla Carter looking back at him calmly, her father sitting beside her, his eyes wide. The man hadn't heard the conversation at the front of the truck.

"And how did you manage to hear us?" Jack asked the teen.

She shrugged one shoulder calmly. "Tok'ra have mildly heightened sense on a normal day," she answered. "You might as well have been talking normally for all I could hear."

She smiled slightly, weakly, almost suddenly embarrassed and Jack could only shake his head with a small smile. The kid was a smart one, he'd give her that. Had a smart mouth uncannily like her sister, he mused.

"Do I even want to know how you know?" heard General Jacob Carter ask.

"Tok'ra, dad," Camilla Carter said. "Tok'ra."

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Cam walked into the 'Gate Room', her arms crossed over her chest as she watched the Stargate dialling, her mind mulling over some of the information that Samantha had given her. She was well aware of Samantha and Colonel O'Neill helping Jacob into the Gate Room with them, even as she heard words of _'Chevron 5 encoded' _in the air.

She watched the Stargate accept the chevron, co-ordinate, before turning calmly to enter the next one. She barely listened to the conversation going on between her father and the other two, watching the movement of the ring with a critical eye, looking for any trouble with the Stargate.

_Too many memories, _she told Kel'an. _I know exactly how quickly things can go wrong._

Her dearest friend chuckled in her mind, grinning weakly. **_As do I, _**she agreed before she sighed. **_We'll have to sing the mourning song when we can._**

Cam nodded to herself, her eye distant. _I am sorry about Jolinar, _she said quietly. _I know how close you and Al'ek were to her._

Kel'an chuckled again. **_Jolinar may have been the mate of Al'ek's brother, _**she admitted, **_but we were still very good friends._**

The Tok'ra host nodded, tensing slightly as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You been through one of these before kid?" Colonel O'Neill asked her when she turned her head to look at him.

They both heard _'Chevron 6 encoded' _echo in the air as the girl shook her head. "First time Colonel," she admitted politely. "But with Kel'an's memories, I know what I can expect."

The Colonel seemed to accept that as he nodded his head slightly. "Geeks managed to work out a few bugs," he told her. "First trip through the Gate froze the first team, but that's sorted."

Cam nodded slightly, accepting the information calmly as the Stargate's inner ring stopped spinning and the final chevron was accepted. Smiling with distant familiarity, the teen watched as the event horizon arched outwards like frothing water before settling back into the Stargate like a pool of water.

She glanced to Colonel O'Neill. "Looks good," she told him before she started up the ramp calmly.

Despite her lack of first-hand experience, Cam knew what to expect as he heard the other three walk up behind her. She calmly stepped up to the Stargate and walked into it. The sensation of being on multiple, high adrenaline, rollercoaster's rushed through Cam's veins, drawing a whoop of delight and glee as well as the urge to take another trip through the Stargate to feel the rush. It was one of the better things she had experienced in her life and she grinned like a maniac as she appeared on the other side of the Stargate, stepping onto soft sand a few short steps away from the Stargate.

_What a rush!_

Kel'an chuckled in her mind, delighted. **_It's always like this, _**she agreed. **_It is one of the small pleasures I allowed myself as a symbiote within a host._**

Cam nodded as she slowly walked away from the active Stargate, moving slowly through the dunes, letting Kel'an's memories from years past to guide her where she needed to go. She'd just neared where she and Kel'an knew the rings to be when she heard the sound of the Stargate shutting down in the distance and smiled.

_They made it, _she commented as she stepped into the centre of the hidden transport rings, stilling her body.

**_Now they just have to catch up, _**Kel'an agreed a heart beat before the Goa'uld transporter rings lifted up into view around her.

A flash of white light was the only sign to the young Tok'ra host that the Goa'uld devices were working before the Rings moved up and out of the way, revealing a heaving crystal tunnel in front of her. Tok'ra, hosts and symbiotes, moved quickly between other corridors, carrying various Goa'uld crates towards her.

Cam moved out of the way, feeling's Kel'an grip on her body. Her symbiote carefully directed her out of the path of the Rings that moved back into view, taking the pile of crates up and of the tunnels.

_Where would Garshaw be? _Cam asked her symbiote.

Instead of answering, her symbiote gently directed her body along a slightly less busy tunnel, the crystals still forming the geode-like cavity. Pausing at a junction of two crystal tunnels, Cam glanced around the corner and felt her eyes widen at the sight of Garshaw and her host. The woman hadn't changed from Kel'an's memories and Cam swallowed.

With her brown hair swept back from her face in a mildly intricate knot, the host barely looked older than thirty when both Cam and Kel'an knew her to be older, much older. Her dress also flattered her without seeming to loudly declare the utility of the outfit, slits hidden down the sides of the skirt of the outfit would allow for Garshaw and her host to move quickly should the need arise.

Obviously sensing a new presence, the woman turned her head to look right at Cam and the girl swallowed convulsively as Garshaw frowned and stood, her hands tensing as her eyes seemed to glow angrily.

**"Who are you?" **Garshaw, the symbiote, demanded. **"We do not recognise your face."**

Cam bowed her head politely as she moved into clearer view, well aware of Garshaw's status amoung the Tok'ra. "I am Camilla," she said respectfully. "I am Kel'an's host." She saw the disbelief clear on her face and took a steadying breath, well aware that Tok'ra guards were only a single 'kree' away. "When Yosuf became a host over a century ago, she left behind her sister and her family," she said. "You told Kel'an that you both went back occasionally through the years, keeping an eye on them despite your deeds."

Surprise dawned on the elder Tok'ra's face before she smiled. **"It is so good to greet Kel'an once more," **Garshaw said.

Cam smiled and nodded, bowing her head and closing her eyes, understanding the request of the Tok'ra from the High Council. Kel'an took control willingly, quickly, and lifted her head as the glow dissipated from her eyes.

**"Tek'ma'te, Garshaw, Yosuf," **Kel'an greeted calmly, a smile drifting across her face.

A delighted smile drifted across the host's face, Kel'an noted, and the woman took in her host's body, nodding after a few moments. **"We had long thought you dead, Kel'an," **she said. **"How long have you been within your host?"**

Kel'an smiled slightly. **"A few years," **she said evasively. **"But while we came to introduce my new host to you, we came to see Saroosh and Selmak."**

Garshaw nodded in understanding. **"Saroosh is old and is looking for a new host," **she told her.

Kel'an nodded her head, bowing politely. **"I understand that Captain Carter of Earth has offered her father," **she said. **"I know this, Garshaw for her father is also my host's father."**

Surprise widened the other Tok'ra's eyes and Kel'an chuckled softly. Garshaw took the knowledge and nodded, accepting it.

**"Go," **she said. **"Martouf stays with Selmak. She will not last much longer."**

Kel'an nodded and bowed her head, gently nudging Camilla back into control. The teenager took it and looked up at Garshaw before she bowed politely.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Tok'ra Garshaw," she said carefully. "Please forgive me, but I need to talk with Al'ek's brother."

Garshaw chuckled and nodded, gesturing to the tunnel behind her. **"Go," **she said gently. **"I understand shared familial ties."**

Cam bowed again to Garshaw before she stepped back into the tunnel and back along her path, moving quickly. She weaved between the people, barely registering other people dressed in clothes similar to that of her sister and Colonel O'Neill as she focused on reaching the tunnel chamber that held Martouf.

Knowing where the most activity around a dying host was centred, usually, Cam followed the pattern of tunnels, almost running before she skidded to a stop outside the room she _knew _held Al'ek's brother and she watched as a sandy haired man stepped out from the room, a frown crossing his face as he looked at her.

Cam recognised him immediately; she remembered the eyes, the hair and the uniform Martouf wore like humans did normal, casual clothes. **"I do not recognise you," **Lantash said. **"Explain yourself."**

Taking a breath and squaring her shoulders unconsciously, Cam forced herself to look at Al'ek's living brother. "I am Camilla, Kel'an's host," she told him.

Fear, worry, confusion and finally denial crossed the male Tok'ra's face as he shook his head. **"Al'ek, his host, is missing," **he denied.

Cam shook her head, feeling tears in her eyes, memories of the farmer's field and Al'ek's body and pain suddenly at the fore of her mind. "He is not missing, Lantash," she told him. "Kel'an and I burned his body in a field on Earth. I know of Jolinar and her fate and I know that you and Al'ek were hosts for close to one hundred years before I became Kel'an's host."

She watched as Lantash bowed his head, closing his eyes and Cam knew control was changing hands from symbiote to host as Martouf lifted his head and looked at her, moving closer and crouching in front of her.

"How much do you know?" he asked her, gently grasping her shoulders.

Cam swallowed, taking in a shaky breath as she looked at the older man. "I know that you have scar on your shoulder from one of Cronus' Jaffa fifty years ago," she said. "I know that Al'ek and Kel'an returned the favour to the Jaffa, killing him before helping you heal from your injury." She took another breath as she continued to look at him. "I know that when you first saw Rosha and Jolinar, Martouf, that you were tongue-tied and it took you just under a year to garner her affection."

She saw the denial before she saw the acceptance and saw the minute shudder run through Martouf's body. "Kel'an?" he asked quietly.

Cam nodded and bowed her head, feeling Kel'an lift it moments later. The symbiote glanced at her former brother, smiling slightly in the way she knew Al'ek had often done.

**"I am here, Martouf," **she said gently. **"I am sorry about Al'ek."**

Kel'an found her heart clenching in sympathetic pain as Martouf's expressions mirrored it. _He hates me, _Camilla breathed.

Watching as Martouf bowed his head, his shoulders shaking as he offered control over, Kel'an shook her head when he wasn't looking. **_Never, _**she told her host firmly. **_He hates that he was not there for his brother. Martouf could never hate you._**

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Martouf let Lantash take control barely aware of what his symbiote said to Kel'an as he struggled with the new information about his brother. He had always known it was a possibility, but his older brother had always been the one man he knew to defy whatever odds were handed to him.

_He can't be dead, _he denied, despite the evidence that presented the opposite to him.

Kel'an had found a new, young, host and had burned Al'ek's body. He couldn't believe it, he couldn't despite knowing Kel'an was in front of him, speaking truth.

**"Tell me what happened to Al'ek," **Lantash spoke, his voice aimed at both Tok'ra.

Martouf watched as the host's body swallowed convulsively and he was struck at the revelation that it was the host in control now, not Kel'an. "I had run away from home," the young woman said quietly. "I was injured and limping down one of the dirt roads when I heard an explosion." She swallowed again and wiped at her eyes, wiping at the tears that had started to fall. "I went into the field and found Al'ek lying… lying…"

Martouf gently nudged at his symbiote. _Please, my friend, _he begged.

The young woman had to be scared, suddenly unsure and Martouf was certain that his own reactions had contributed. With Kel'an as her symbiote, the ties he held with Al'ek easily shifted to the young woman in front of him and he had the urge to comfort her, soothe her fears.

Lantash bowed his head and Martouf quickly took control, tightening his grip on the young host's shoulders for a heart beat before relaxing. "You became Kel'an's host?" he asked her gently.

The girl nodded and wiped at her eyes. "Years have passed, but I still cry remembering how I found him and Al'ek," she admitted.

Smiling Martouf pulled her close. "Al'ek was my brother," he said. "Kel'an was my brother's symbiote. And you, because of this, are now my sister."

He felt her shift in his arms and the girl looked up at him, a frown creasing her forehead. "Really?" she asked before she flushed and looked away. "With Al'ek's memories, I've always thought of you like a brother… but I never…"

Martouf chuckled and held her close again. "You need not have worried," he said. "Many other Tok'ra hosts have taken on familial ties of previous hosts. I would not think twice about doing the same." He held her tight against him, breathing in her scent, feeling Lantash aiding his memory in remembering the scent of his new sister, a smell that he would grow to cherish as much as he had cherished Al'ek's growing up. "I am glad to meet you, Camilla Carter."

Camilla chuckled in his arms, her shoulders shaking slightly. "And I you, Martouf," she replied.

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Cam followed Martouf into the chamber that she knew held Saroosh and Selmak, seeing the other, young hosts around the woman who lay asleep on a crystal bed, a thin sheet covering her and offering her a modicum of warmth.

She knew the woman was old, having spent close to two hundred years as a host and a mother to two boys born into the Tok'ra. But despite knowing and having Kel'an's memories, it was still surprising to see the old woman lying unmoving on the bed.

"I am sure that Kel'an has given you memories," Martouf said quietly, "but it can be jarring to see our mother lying so ill."

Cam nodded as she stepped up beside her new brother, taking in the smoothed features as the woman rested. "I never thought to be able to come to the Tok'ra," she said quietly. "I never thought that I would be able to find out what happened to Al'ek's murder."

Martouf arched an eyebrow at her, glancing to Saroosh before he pulled her to one wall of the chamber. "Are you certain?" he asked her.

Cam nodded, feeling Kel'an's own hum in her mind. "The memories I have are of Al'ek meeting up at the edge of Earth's solar system," she began, "the meeting went wrong between the ships somehow after the traditional greetings and assurances were made – in the correct coding as well – and Al'ek's ship was attacked." She shook her head then. "Al'ek flew by Earth, got caught in the planet's gravity and crashed only a few hundred feet from where I was walking."

A groan echoed in the air and Cam turned her attention to the old woman lying on the table between the two young Tok'ra. Moving forwards carefully, Cam watched as Saroosh's eyes opened and fixed on her face.

"I do not recognise your face," she said softly.

Cam smiled weakly at that, nodding as she accepted the truth from the woman who she viewed as a mother. "I am Camilla," she said gently. "Kel'an's host and Al'ek's successor."

She saw the widening in the woman's eyes, saw the distant look come and go before she nodded, sighing as she patted the bed beside her. "Come," she said firmly. "Sit beside me child. Let me get a good look at you."

Ever conscious of the two young Tok'ra, Cam moved and carefully lifted herself up onto the edge, shifting her position slightly as Saroosh seemed to take in her appearance. Not entirely used to the scrutiny, she waited the woman out before she saw a small smile drift across Saroosh's face.

"Not easily swayed," she commented. "That is good." When Saroosh reached towards one of her hands, Cam easily gave it to her, glancing at Martouf and seeing the older man's own small smile as she did so, even as Saroosh patted her hand. "It is good to have a daughter."

Cam smiled at that, biting back tears as she looked at the woman. "And it is good to have a mother," she replied.

Saroosh seemed happy with that and Cam sighed as she drifted back to sleep, her eyes closing. Smiling and shaking her head fondly, the young Tok'ra host climbed off of the bed, chuckling as she felt Martouf helping her before she saw the slightly different set to his shoulders, easily seeing that Lantash was in control.

**"It is good that she has accepted you," **her brother's symbiote commented. **"After giving birth to two sons, I believe Saroosh gave up her dream of having a daughter."**

Cam chuckled. "And I gave up the hope of having a mother who loved me," she told him, patting his shoulder. "I'll tell you sometime about myself when we aren't pressed for time."

Lantash smiled at her as they both turned their attention to Saroosh, watching the woman. They both waited patiently, making gentle small talk, keeping out of the way of the two women seeing to Saroosh.

"The man that Captain Carter offers is her father," Cam found herself say a few minutes later. "He is also mine."

Lantash smiled at that. **"Then his luck is strong if he has two special children," **he said.

Cam smiled in return. "Lucky that he adopted a child that had a connection to the Tok'ra," she replied.

Hearing shaky footsteps matched by surer ones, Cam turned around, recognising her father and her sister's footsteps. Lantash joined her as they saw Sam and Jacob.

**"You have returned," **Lantash commented.

Samantha nodded. "Yes," she answered. "This is my, our," she nodded at Cam then, "father, Jacob Carter."

Cam didn't need to turn to sense the nod her brother's symbiote gave. **"Honoured," **he said politely before Cam felt a change. "I am Martouf. You have two, very special, daughters."

Cam hid her frown, stifling her reaction, wondering just how she knew who had changed hands. **_You will always be able to sense those closest to your heart, _**Kel'an whispered quickly. **_Al'ek was very much the same with Martouf and Saroosh; he always knew who was in control._**

The female Tok'ra smiled slightly as she saw Jacob frowning slightly. "Why does he talk like that?" he asked quietly.

Chuckling under her breath, knowing her father wasn't really trying to be rude, Cam knew her father had forgotten just how sensitive their hearing could be.

"He's a Tok'ra dad," Samantha said quietly. "Cam and I told you about them."

Cam patted her brother's hand gently on the table beside her, smiling slightly as recognition dawned on Jacob's face. "He doesn't mean to be rude, Martouf," she whispered to her brother. "He has only recently been let in on the secret."

Martouf hummed from beside her. "Well," they both heard Samantha begin hesitantly. "I don't know if I'd call them aliens, sort of half-alien I guess. I mean, the outside is human, and the inside is shared between a human and a symbiote. Martouf is… actually two different… souls, I guess, sharing the same body."

Cam smiled at that, chuckling. "Maybe not souls," she said, looking at her father and sister. "But certainly sharing is involved." She shrugged a shoulder, her eyes going distant as she remembered how it had been explained to Al'ek. "The symbiote gets protection in the human body and the human gets a longer life-span."

Jacob nodded as he looked between them and Cam heard her symbiote's chuckle in her mind and she didn't stop the small quirk to her lips as she looked at her father. "And that's what you want me to become?" he asked, his eyebrows arching. "You've got to be kidding me."

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Jacob was many things and he knew that despite the lymphoma, he was pretty overwhelmed. Too many things had happened in one day and he was still trying to gain his equilibrium.

He'd learned within the space of two hours that his youngest daughter was host to an alien, his first daughter _had _been one, and that travelling to other planets had gone a lot further than he had ever imagined. Shaking his head and forcing aside the mild sickness from all the chemo, Jacob knew he wasn't angry with Sam – he couldn't be when she's kept her word and the government's secret, much to his consternation.

He turned and walked slowly back into the room, his body aching with every step and Jacob found his eyes widening as he saw Camilla sat by the old woman's head, gently mopping at her brow. He forced his gaze to Sam.

"I'm not sure I can do this, Sam," he told her.

**"No one wishes to pressure you in any way, General Carter," **he heard a voice speak and Jacob turned to look at the owner, frowning when he saw Camilla looking at him but her posture was different, more assured, more 'grown-up'. **"The decision is yours."**

He nodded. **"But, before deciding," **the other, Martouf, said, **"might I suggest that you – you take a moment to get to know the symbiote that wishes to blend with you?"**

Jacob took a breath and moved closer to the crystal bed, gesturing to the woman lying prone on it. "This is her?" he asked.

"Actually, you can only see the host," Sam answered. "The symbiote's inside her."

"Inside her?" he asked.

"Talk to her, dad," Cam urged him, suddenly the one to speak now, her strange, double-toned voice gone. "Get to know Selmak, Saroosh."

Jacob looked from his youngest daughter to the woman next to and watched as her eyes opened before she looked at him calmly.

**"If you agree to the blending, we could be together for a very long time,"** she said moments before coughing.

If Jacob was being honest, there had been days where he had felt the same, willing to talk before descending into coughing fits that left him breathless.

"You don't look so good," Jacob commented had calmed her breathing.

**"You are no vision of beauty yourself, sir!"** the woman countered with a smile.

Jacob smiled in return, laughing before he groaned and started coughing, well aware of the woman doing pretty much the same. It was several long, painful seconds before he could stifle his coughing, swallowing against the sudden dryness in his parched throat.

He shook his head as he took a deep breath to calm his beating and his aching heart. "It's alright," he told Sam before shaking his head again. "Sorry."

As he settled his breathing, he watched as looseness took over the woman's body as he looked back down at her from his daughter.

"I'm the one to whom you should be talking," the woman said, her voice changed.

"You are the one I'm talking to," he said, shaking his head as he looked up. "Why, why did your voice change like that?"

Camilla smiled at him. "The host, is talking now dad," she explained. "Much like mine did when Kel'an took control."

"I am Saroosh," the woman said, drawing his attention back to her. "I am in the position to help you most."

"How's that?"

"I will die," Saroosh explained weakly. "Selmak will live on, you will take my place as host."

"Um," Jacob said, shaking his head. "I don't understand."

He honestly didn't. He was still overwhelmed despite the ease of the conversation.

"Selmak is a wonderful Tok'ra," Saroosh continued, smiling. "She is selfless and caring; she is good company; she has a wonderful sense of humour."

Sam smiled at him. "Well, that's good, dad," she chirped. "You can sit around for hours cracking yourself up."

Jacob glared good naturedly at her. "That's funny," he said.

Saroosh chuckled slightly. "She's not far wrong," she agreed. "I've had almost two hundred years of laughter thanks to Selmak." She smiled slightly. "I'm biased of course, but I believe Selmak is amoung the best educated of the Tok'ra." She sighed sadly. "You will probably be overwhelmed by the knowledge and wisdom you will gain upon blending."

"So," Jacob began, "I get all of this thing's, err, what did you call is? In their head?"

"Symbiote," Cam supplied.

Jacob nodded. "Yeah," he replied. "I get all its memories and stuff?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, dad," she agreed. "Something like that."

"Then I won't deceive you, sir," Saroosh said. "We have some pretty awful things buried in our memory."

Jacob watched as Camilla's skin flushed as she nodded, seeming to agree with the woman lying on the bed. "Such as?" he asked.

Camilla glanced down at Saroosh, a sad look on her face. "Countless atrocities committed by the Goa'uld," the aged woman answered calmly, "some of our own."

The woman on the bed coughed, wincing. "The loss of the host before Saroosh," she told him gently. "And you will feel Selmak's mourning for Saroosh."

Jacob nodded as he covered his mouth with one hand. "Will excuse me ma'am?" he asked before he hurried from the room, one hand pressed to his stomach.

The chemo and the sudden new news finally got him and Jacob found what little he'd eaten returning to the world from the path it had taken. He was aware of Sam at his side, rubbing his back as he dry heaved for a moment.

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Cam looked up as she heard the sounds of military boots walking into the room. Jacob had walked into the room and nodded at Martouf.

"Okay," he said after a moment. "What do I have to do?"

Martouf smiled slightly. "First, Selmak would like to interview you."

"Huh?" was Jacobs rather eloquent response.

Selmak opened her eyes and sighed. **"If I am to spend the next hundred years or more with you as my host,"** she began, **"do you not think I have the right to decide if I even like you?"**

Jacob laughed lightly and Cam smiled in answer relieved. "What's not to like?" he asked. "Just ask my daughters, I'm a teddy bear."

"Oh yeah," Cam began sarcastically.

"Real teddy bear," Sam finished for her, just as sarcastically.

**"How do you feel about the Goa'uld?"** Selmak asked as she turned her head slightly to look at Jacob curiously.

"Well, you are the first one I've met," Jacob said, stepping into Selmak's trick question.

Cam groaned as she let her head fall into her hands even as Kel'an mental growled at the association. It honestly seemed that there was a direction association between the words and the reaction that it seemed to bring out in all Tok'ra

"We're Tok'ra dad," she said. "Not Goa'uld."

"Ah," Jacob said after a moment. "Trick question?"

Sam nodded in response as he looked at her. "Remember dad," she said. "I tried to explain the difference."

Jacob nodded. "Right, right," he said, remembering, Cam noted. "I apologise, I guess I've never met a Goa'uld before. Although from what Sam and her people tell me, I don't think I like them very much."

Selmak looked at Martouf and nodded once. Cam remembered what that meant, climbing down from the bed before following Martouf out into the doorway as he led Sam there to give the other two a bit of privacy. They all watched as the two spoke quietly for a minute before Selmak smiled.

**"I have decided I like you,"** she said, loudly enough for them to hear her.

Cam smiled slightly as she looked on, waiting until either her father or Martouf's mother called for them. "Super," Jacob said quietly.

**"But I must be sure that you understand, there will be no turning back,"** Selmak said. **"I cannot blend with you, cure your disease, then leave. To do so would probably kill us both."**

Jacob nodded. "I understand," he said. "Let me ask you something. After we do this, will I still be able to talk to my daughters?"

**"The way Saroosh talked to you, yes,"** Selmak answered. **"But you and your daughters must understand, the blending may not work at all. I am very weak, and the damage to your body may be too extensive."**

Jacob nodded again. "In other words, we might die anyway," he said.

**"Yes."**

Jacob turned to look at them for a moment before he looked back at Selmak and bit his lip. "Then can you give me five with my kids?" he asked.

**"Of course,"** Selmak agreed.

Jacob smiled and moved away, walking towards them. Martouf rested his hand gently on Jacob's upper arm.

**"You must hurry,"** Lantash spoke. **"We don't have much time."**

Jacob nodded as Cam followed after Lantash as he moved to Saroosh's side. Cam looked over her shoulder and smiled at Sam for a moment as Jacob touched his oldest daughter's shoulder, pulling her to the side so he could speak with her.

SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1- SG-1

Enough time had passed that Cam had said her words to her father, embracing him tightly before moving to take a seat in one of the alcoves in the room, staying quiet as she watched everything happen. She's already gone through the blending and knew that despite the fact they she and Sam and Martouf were in the same room, the Blending was generally a private process between hosts and symbiote.

"We do not enter our hosts through the back of the neck," Martouf told Samantha. "This just leaves a scar that many of us find unsettling."

"So why don't the Goa'uld do it this way too?" her sister asked..

"The Tok'ra believe they don't wish to remember the horror of their host's faces whenever they see their own reflection," Cam told her quietly, intruding on the conversation for a moment. "We don't know for sure."

Samantha looked at her and nodded after a moment.

"You must step away, Captain Carter," Martouf told her gently.

Jacob turned his head slightly. "Goodbye kids," he muttered.

"See you soon dad," Cam heard Sam mutter before Jacob turned back, clearing his throat slightly. "Now what?"

**"Kiss me,"** Selmak told him weakly.

"You're kidding me right?"

**"No, I am not."**

Cam watched as the two humans leaned towards each other before Jacob gasped, his body arching and stiffening as the young Tok'ra knew Selmak was taking the offer of a new host. **"Goodbye, dear friend,"** she heard her father's altered voice say before drifting off.

Cam bit her lip and leaned forwards slightly, resting her head in her hands as sobs started to wrack her body. _Please Kel'?_ she silently begged her symbiote. _Please._

She stepped back from the control of her body, feeling Kel'an taking it moments later as her body stiffened and her crying stopped gently.

Kel'an looked up seeing Martouf pulling the thin blanket over Saroosh's face while he talked quietly with Sam. Another Tok'ra dashed inside, still wearing the desert uniform most Tok'ra wore when they hid around the Stargate on the various desert worlds that had required the new uniform.

**"Our scouts have spotted the Goa'uld ships dropping from hyperspace," **they reported. **"They will start attacking from the air and through the 'Gate within hours. Garshaw orders that we must destroy the complex."**

Kel'an stood up then, gaining the Tok'ra's attention. **"We cannot move Selmak's new host!"** she said. **"They will both die if we do so!"**

The Tok'ra nodded and left the room. Kel'an looked back at Jacob, consoling Cam for a few minutes until Yosuf, Garshaw's host walked inside, leading a group of men that Kel'an didn't recognise except for O'Neill.

"Martouf, all the tunnels but this one and the escape have vanished," Yosuf told them. "All other Tok'ra have gone to the new homeworld; we must go now!"

Kel'an shook her head. **"Saroosh is dead Yosuf,"** she spoke, letting Cam's feelings pour into her voice. **"You know as well as I do that we cannot move them."**

"When and if he awakens, Selmak knows where we'll be," Yosuf replied. "He can follow."

"But the Goa'uld are coming," one of the other men said, wearing similar clothing to O'Neill although he wore a pair of large, circular glasses. "They'll capture him."

"If he's captured, he will die before he will reveal our whereabouts!"

"Well, then take him with you!" Sam snapped.

"Or we'll take him with us," O'Neill said.

Martouf shook his head. "I'm afraid that to transport him now, he will die," he said and Kel'an felt her heart constrict in sympathetic pain as Cam groaned at the news. "He needs to remain stationary until Selmak has completed her repairs."

Sam looked torn for a moment. "We can't just leave him here!" she stated, pain clear on her face.

"I will remain with him. If I can get him out, I will," he told them. "If not, I will allow the vanishing tunnels to consume us before the Goa'uld get here."

Yosuf lowered her head, allowing Garshaw to take control before she shook her head. **"I cannot allow you to die in this way," **she said. **"We must leave now!"**

Sam bit her lip before she nodded. "I'll stay," she said.

**"As will I,"** Kel'an agreed.

**"You are even more vulnerable since you contain the memories of Jolinar, Captain Carter!"** Garshaw told her. **"I cannot allow you to stay. We must go now!"**

"She's right, Captain," O'Neill agreed. "We have to go."

Sam shook her head. "With respect, no, sir. I am not leaving him here."

"Captain Carter, Kel'an and I will all remain," Martouf said. "I will assure that we will not be taken by the Goa'uld."

"Please, Colonel. I need to be here."

O'Neill looked at her for a moment. "Right," he said before he nodded to the two other men. "Daniel? Teal'c? Let's go."

He turned around, the two men staying behind for a moment, sharing a look before they followed after him. Garshaw looked at the trio as they stayed standing. Kel'an nodded and Garshaw turned and left before Kel'an lowered her head, allowing Cam take control once more.

Martouf moved to sit beside her, gently pulling her against him, and Cam felt herself relaxing slightly. She stayed against her brother, ignoring both her brother and her sister and she sought some comfort. It was only when a sigh echoed from Jacob's lips did Cam react, standing up to look.

"Dad?" Sam asked, looking at him hopefully as he sat up.

**"Martouf?"** Selmak asked and both Cam and Sam looked disappointed.

"I am here," Martouf responded as he got to his own feet..

**"Should we not make our escape?"** Selmak asked when the tunnel shook as blast from the space hit the surface.

Martouf smiled and Cam recognised from Al'ek's memories that Selmak had occasionally stated the obvious, oblivious to the funny side of many around them. "Yes, we should," he agreed.

"Uh, is my dad in their somewhere?" Sam asked.

Selmak nodded before he lowered his head, closing his eyes. After a moment Jacob lifted his head and sighed.

"I'm here Sam," he replied and looked at Cam, smiling weakly. "Hey kid." He groaned quietly then. "Oh man," he ground out. "Talk about your hangover."

"How are you dad?" Sam asked.

"I'm awful," Jacob replied truthfully. "Headache the size of Kuwait. There's too much stuff in here."

Cam smiled and laughed lightly, surprising everyone. "It'll be like that for a while dad," she told him. "It took me a few days to get used to Kel'an."

Jacob smirked at her slightly and he got off of the bed. "Whoa!"

Immediately Martouf shot to his feet, Cam right behind him. "What?" Sam asked.

Jacob merely laughed and bent all his limbs, obviously checking something. "No more arthritis!" he exclaimed happily. "Holy Hannah! No more arthritis!"

Cam looked up at Martouf and he nodded. "We should make our leave as soon as possible," he said, drawing the other two's attention. "This way."

They didn't exchange words as Martouf led them through the rapidly diminishing tunnels. They barely managed to get to the tunnel where the rings were as one of the tunnels started collapsing. Martouf moved quickly and pulled one crystal near the rings before he joined the others in the clear area as the rings descended, surrounding them in a white light before they appeared on the sandy surface. The rings, instead of descending back into the tunnels, like Cam had expected, separated one by one until they disappeared, a wordless signal of the destruction of the tunnels beneath them.

Sam and Martouf looked around for a moment before they ran to the Stargate that lay in the distance. They reached the Stargate quickly, but not before the Stargate started spinning.

"They are attempting to come through the Stargate," Martouf commented as Sam moved to the partially sand covered dialling device.

"Not if I dial out first!" she snapped, pressing the symbols in quick succession. "We'll go to Earth. You can go wherever you need to from there."

They had all turned to look at Sam and now looked at the Gate, worry clear on their faces. "Did Sam open it, or did they?" Cam asked.

**"We have no choice!"** Selmak told them as he placed a hand on Cam's shoulder, pressing her closer to the Gate.

"Wait!" Sam called out as Gliders flew overhead.

The woman tapped at the device she wore on her wrist and Cam watched as a light changed on the device, drawing a nod from Sam. That was all that Selmak apparently needed and pushed Cam ahead of himself as they raced towards the Gate, the young Tok'ra the first to go through the Gate. Cam grunted when she came through on the other side, rolling down the ramp to land in small heap at the flat concrete bottom, winded.

"Ow!" she muttered as she slowly stood up, hearing Selmak, Martouf and Sam getting to their feet behind her, even as she roll her eyes. "Well, that was fun." The rush had returned, heightened by the hope that they had been the ones to control the Gate instead of things being the other way around.

**"I must give you thanks," **Selmak said, smiling as he walked down the ramp. **"You have saved my life and that of my new host."** Selmak nodded once more, smiling. **"We thank you."**

Garshaw smiled and her body seemed to relax. **"This is wonderful news,"** she said softly.

"Can we talk to your new host?" General Hammond asked.

Selmak bowed his head slightly, allowing Jacob to take control. Jacob seemed a bit unsure of what to do as a few moments passed before he raised his head. Jacob cleared his throat a bit self consciously.

"So when the little fella inside me is talking, do I sound like she does?" he asked.

One of the men Cam had only briefly met on the former Tok'ra homeworld nodded once, inclining his head at Jacob. Cam smiled, remembering the quiet conversation she had had with Martouf, remembering what he had said.

"That is correct," he stated calmly, almost like he was used to the phenomenon.

Jacob raised an eyebrow and nodded slightly. "That's strange," he admitted. "I can feel myself talking, but it's not me saying the words, you know?"

"Don't know," O'Neill told him and Cam smirked slightly at his remark. "Take your work for it." Cam felt her smirk widen.

"How do you feel?" one of the other men asked.

"Well," Jacob began, smiling as he rested a hand on Cam's shoulder lightly. "Considering I have one of those things inside me, pretty damn good!" He nodded to Hammond and they moved off, away from the group and talked quietly.

Cam looked up when she felt a hand replace her father's on her shoulder. She smiled when she saw Martouf standing there. He gently drew her away from the others, leading her away from the Tok'ra before he crouched down in front of her and held out a hand sized circular device. Cam recognised it immediately.

"A healing device?" she asked him. "This is yours."

Martouf smiled at her and pressed it into her hands. "I think you'll be staying here with your sister," he began quietly. "I have a feeling that you will need this."

Cam held it firmly in her hands before she wrapped her arms around Martouf's shoulders. "Thank you," she muttered. "Thank you brother."

She felt Martouf hug her back, enveloping her small frame in his arms. "I will take care of Jacob Carter as if he were my own father," he told her.

Cam nodded. "I know," she said, understanding he meant it.

**"We must go,"** Garshaw said finally.

"You are safe here," the first man said.

**"Because of the spy, the Goa'uld may already be at the site the Tok'ra have moved to."**

Sam looked at Martouf who stood up now, Cam standing in front of him, holding onto the healing device. "You can't stay a little longer?" she asked.

Martouf shook his head. "No," he replied. "We must go quickly and stop the tunnels there before they are grown."

"They have to move the Tok'ra again before the System Lords get there," Cam piped up.

**"Do you not have a dialling device here?"** Garshaw asked as she absently pulled the thin black shawl tighter around herself in an attempt to warm her host against the chill in the military room.

O'Neill nodded. "Yeah, we slapped one together," he told her.

Garshaw's eyes widened slightly. **"You made it yourself. Impressive,"** she said. **"Will you show it to me? I would like to put in the coordinates myself."**

Hammond nodded and gestured to the now open sliding door next to him. "This way," he said, leading her out of the room and towards the room that overlooked the Stargate.

Martouf smiled once more at Cam before he moved over to Sam and talked quietly with her while the Stargate dialled out. Garshaw soon came back in, following Hammond before she moved to the ramp at the base of the Gate.

**"There will come a time when the Tok'ra and the people of the Tau'ri will destroy the System Lords," **Garshaw said with a smile.

"This'll be a good day," O'Neill agreed as the first man, the one with the glasses, raced over, carrying a small box. He handed it to Jacob who took it curiously.

"Um, this box has a signature on it that we can recognise," he told him. "Just send it through the Gate and we'll know you want to contact us."

**"Thank you,"** Garshaw said. **"Come, Selmak, Kel'an."**

Cam smiled, nodding. "Per'sus," she said. "I know."

She saw Samantha and the others frowning at her. "What?" her sister asked.

Chuckling Cam moved to follow. "Every new Tok'ra host needs to present themselves before Per'sus, leader of the Tok'ra," she said. "I need to go and get permission to stay."

She turned to look at Jacob and watched as he, in turn, looked at O'Neill and smirked slightly. "Selmak says," he paused, still smirking, "let me see if I can translate this: 'Don't call us, we'll call you'."

Cam smiled and followed after her brother and father. She was leaving her home behind for now, but she had to follow with tradition. She paused as she felt Samantha press something into her hands and frowned, looking down at the device in her hand.

"You'll need that to get home," her sister told her. "It's a normal radio. Talk to us and we'll let you know when to come through."

Cam smiled slightly and nodded, slipping the radio into a pocket before she followed her father and brother through the Stargate, leaving Earth behind.

* * *

**Response to reviews:**

As always, this is for the Guests amoung us, so here I go:

**Glissoning Raven: **Yes, you're right. Admittedly you aren't the first, but nonetheless, I'd like to hear your plot ideas and opinions. Please. I hope you like this chapter as I plan on writing other pieces out for TiA.


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